"All in all, you're just another brick in the wall..." (Source: WinRumors)

Some unfortunate customers may be forced to get a new handset

The
Windows Phone 7 platform was a pretty ambitious undertaking for Microsoft.
It represented a complete reboot for Microsoft's mobile efforts and
offered up perhaps the most innovative interface on the
market today. But it was not without problems.

However, the update has been rendering Samsung Omnia 7s inoperative and
unresponsive. After installing the patch, the handset attempts to reboot,
hanging on the step where it's supposed to connect to your PC. An endless
cycle of rebooting death ensues, leaving you the proud owner a new brick.

Attempting to hard reset doesn’t help and connecting to Windows Phone 7's PC
recovery suite yields a "Restoration Error". It appears that
owners should assume the worst, as Microsoft is advising that affected
users exchange
the bricked unit for a new handset.

One user, Tom Granville writes,
"Basically, after plugging in my phone to receive the update, the process
gets as far as stage 6 of 10 where the phone goes through the reboot process
but the phone hangs on the ‘connect your phone to your PC’.

In a statement, a Microsoft spokesperson acknowledges that the company has
"identified a technical issue with the Windows Phone update process",
which it says affects a "small number of phones."

Microsoft adds, "In response to this emerging issue, we have temporarily
taken down the latest software update for Samsung phones in order to correct
the issue and as soon as possible will redistribute the update."

The company promises to bring back the update "as soon as possible".

Even if the handset didn't brick a particular user's phone, some users are
reporting that it caused issues with the phone's backup, which is set up to occur
when you connect it to your PC.

Microsoft's update woes come not long after it finally solved its "phantom
data" issues. A couple weeks ago Microsoft revealed
Yahoo! Mail to be the offending third-party app that was consuming
inordinate amounts of data due to a software glitch. Ultimately the end
affect of that issue on users was minimal -- it killed some users’ batteries a
bit faster. By contrast, this issue seems far more severe, though it's still
unclear exactly how many users are affected.

Comments

Threshold

Username

Password

remember me

This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled

Really? I thought this article was an editorial as it stands. It sets a very accusatory tone against Microsoft when it could just as easily be a design flaw with Samsung's phones (as they are the only ones effected).

A more neutral perspective would be appreciated, if this isn't an editorial.

Not at all. I'm actually a big fan of Windows Phone 7, and probably will end up buying one for my next handset (I currently have an Android), assuming the platform smooths out its rough edges.

My point in the article itself is that this is bad publicity for Microsoft. For better or worse it had to endure weeks of reports on the phantom data and now it's been hit with a seemingly worse issue.

At this point it's anybody's guess who is to blame and I didn't even start to try to speculate on this in the article.

That said, I do believe that Microsoft has a basic responsibility -- like any OS maker -- for the updates it puts out. Microsoft seems to be responding in a pretty aggressive way here, so at least it's acknowledging that responsibility. That's a good thing in my mind, despite the bad publicity that this incident will likely bring.

I actually thought the article was neutral. If I were one of the affected I would be really pissed. And the funny thing is that I'm expecting my LG Optimus 7 today... Does anybody know if these are affected or only Samsung units?

I prefer he post his commentary in the comments section rather than the article itself. Keep the information in the article objective. Leave your thoughts, and jabs at other companies, to the section made of internet trolls.